SparkNotes: The Merry Wives of Windsor: Characters The Merry Wives of Windsor William Shakespeare Summary Act I, Scenes i-ii Mistress Ford - A resident of Windsor, Mistress Ford is married to Ford and is a friend of Mistress Page. When she and Mistress Page receive a seductive letter from Falstaff, they decide to lead him on and ruin him. In the meantime, Mistress Ford hopes to prove to her husband that she is entirely faithful, so that he will get over his oppressive jealousy. Mistress Page - A resident of Windsor, Mistress Page is married to Page and is a friend of Mistress Ford. When she and Mistress Ford receive a seductive letter from Falstaff, they decide to lead him on and ruin him. Meanwhile, Mistress Page and her husband disagree about who should marry their daughter, Anne Page. She favors Caius, but her husband favors Slender; Anne herself likes neither. However, both must learn the lesson to listen to the romantic desires of their daughter. Falstaff - Falstaff is a knight, but he is also a scoundrel and occasionally a thief. In Henry IV, Part I , he was a drinking buddy of the young Prince Henry.

Falstaff is boisterous, lively, cowardly, funny, and mischievous; he is one of Shakespeare's most beloved creations, appearing in several of his plays. In Wives, outside his element in the countryside, Falstaff thinks he can get away with seducing married women in order to gain access to their husbands' cash. Hence he launches a plan to seduce Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. However, they are cleverer than he is and, on three separate occasions, cause him to be humiliated, beaten, or dunked in a river. Ford - Husband of Mistress Ford. Ford is very jealous of his wife. When he learns that Falstaff intends to try to seduce his wife, he is sure she'll fall for Falstaff and shame him. Hence he puts on a disguise, calls himself Brooke, and goes to the Garter Inn to find out about Falstaff's plans and his wife's responses. During the play, he must learn to let go of his jealousy, which he eventually manages to do. Page - Husband of Mistress Page. Page is not jealous of his wife, so when he hears about Falstaff's plan, he doesn't think she's likely to find Falstaff interesting.

In comparison to Ford, his easygoing attitude makes him look like a wonderful husband, but he has other problems. He and his wife disagree about who should marry their daughter Anne, and neither are able to choose the suitor she likes, namely Fenton. He must learn that he should listen to his daughter's opinions. Sir Hugh Evans - Sir Hugh Evans is the local clergyman. He's Welsh, so he speaks in an accent that the other English citizens find very amusing. They make fun of him constantly for it; finally he and Caius band together to humiliate the Host after he makes fools of them. Caius - The local doctor, Caius is Mistress Quickly's master. He is French, so he suffers the same humiliation as Evans because of his accent and broken English. He hopes to marry Anne Page, and Mistress Page favors him, but Page doesn't, and their conflicting schemes--combined with the fact that Anne does not like him--disrupt his marriage plans. He and Evans also make plans to get back at the Host for making fun of them. Anne Page - Daughter of Page and Mistress Page, Anne is sought for marriage by an array of idiots, including Caius and Slender.

Yet she chooses Fenton and tricks her parents by managing to elope with him. She defends her own choice and returns triumphant to show up her parents, who were too busy debating their own preferences to listen to her. Fenton - A suitor for Anne Page's hand, Page denies his suit because he fears that Fenton's interest is purely financial, being high-born but poor. Fenton admits he felt this way at first, but once he got to know Anne, he fell in love with her. She likes him best, and the two marry at the end. Slender - The third suitor for Anne Page's hand, Slender is urged on by Shallow, but he is unable to speak anything but nonsense to Anne. Page favors him as a good match for his daughter, but Anne does not, and in the end he doesn't get to marry her. Shallow - Shallow is a figure of the law, but nevertheless a foolish character of misplaced authority. He urges Slender to try to seduce Anne Page, even speaking for him at times. Mistress Quickly - Caius's servant, Mistress Quickly is everyone's messenger.

She goes to Falstaff at the behest of Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, and she speaks to Anne Page on behalf of all three of her suitors. Yet she prefers Fenton and supports his suit most readily. Mistress Quickly chronically misunderstands or mishears other people, hearing sexually charged conversations where there are none. Bardolph - One of Falstaff's men, Bardolph takes over as the bartender of the Garter Inn in order to pay for Falstaff's entourage's room and board. Nim - One of Falstaff's men, Nim wants to stay honest, and he refuses to deliver Falstaff's seductive letters to Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. Instead, he and Pistol decide to let the husbands know of Falstaff's scheme. Pistol - One of Falstaff's men, Pistol wants to stay honest, and he refuses to deliver Falstaff's seductive letters to Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. Instead, he and Nim decide to let the husbands know of Falstaff's scheme. Host - Host of the Garter Inn, the Host makes fun of Evans and Caius's broken and accented English, so they decide to get back at him by tricking him.

Their ploy results in the loss of three of the Host's horses. William Page - Page's son, he meets Evans, who gives him an impromptu Latin lesson which Mistress Quickly entirely mishears as sexual innuendo. Simple - Slender's servant. The Merry Wives of Windsor - Shakespeare in quarto British Library copies of Merry Wives of Windsor contains detailed bibliographic descriptions of all the quarto copies of the play. Shakespeare’s sources Shakespeare could have used several sources for The Merry Wives of Windsor. Barnaby Riche, ‘Of Two Brethren and Their Wives’, in Riche His Farewell to Militarie Profession (1581). Shakespeare could have drawn on this for Falstaff’s wooing of Mistress Ford and his escapes from her jealous husband. ‘The Tale of the Two Lovers of Pisa’ in Tarltons Newes Out of Purgatorie (1590). This is another possible source for Falstaff’s entanglement with Mistress Ford and its consequences. A Lover's Misfortunes. Tarlton's Newes out of Purgatorie, 1590. British Library, C.40.c.68, p. 47.

Larger image Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, Il Pecorone. (1558) The second novella from the second day of stories is closest to the plot involving Falstaff and Mistress Ford, and may have been used directly by Shakespeare. Luigi Pasqualigo, translated by Anthony Munday, Fedele and Fortunio (1585). Munday’s comedy is a free translation and adaptation of the 1576 edition of Il Fedele by Pasqualigo. It includes the character Captain Crackstone, who has been suggested as an important influence on Falstaff. Story of the play Note: the links below will take you to the page in the quarto where each act begins, according to standard modern editions. (The quartos themselves have no act divisions.) The quarto shown for each play is always the earliest in the Library's collection - unless it is a 'bad' quarto in which case it is the earliest 'good' quarto. The Merry Wives of Windsor is set in the town of Windsor and the surrounding forest.

Since the action takes place between Falstaff’s appearance in Henry IV, Part 2 and his death in Henry V, it may be dated to the early years of the 15th century. ( Act 1 ) Justice Shallow and his young relative Slender acuse Falstaff of riotous behaviour and theft. Falstaff denies the charges. In need of money, he decides to court Mistress Ford and Mistress Page at the same time. He sends love-letters to both of them. Slender, Dr Caius, and Fenton all ask the help of Mistress Quickly in wooing Anne Page, the daughter of Mistress Page. ( Act 2 ) Mistress Page and Mistress Ford compare the love-letters they have received from Falstaff. They are exactly the same, and the two women plan revenge. Falstaff’s men tell Page and Ford of Falstaff’s intentions towards their wives. Ford is jealous and decides to take action. Mistress Quickly joins with Mistress Page and Mistress Ford to plot Falstaff’s downfall. She tells him that both women are in love with him. Ford disguises himself as a would-be lover to his own wife and asks Falstaff’s help to seduce her.

Falstaff tells him of his meeting that very day with Mistress Ford. Dr Caius challenges the parson Sir Hugh Evans over his support for Slender’s wooing of Anne Page. ( Act 3 ) When they meet, Dr Caius and Parson Evans are persuaded by their friends not to fight. Mistress Ford entertains Falstaff at her house. Mistress Page arrives to warn her friend of the imminent arrival of Ford. The two women persuade Falstaff to hide in a large laundry basket. He is carried out inside it as Ford arrives to search the house. Page urges his daughter Anne to accept Slender as a husband, while Mistress Page intends Anne for Dr Caius. Falstaff returns after being thrown into the Thames. Mistress Quickly persuades him to try again with Mistress Ford. Falstaff tells Ford, again in disguise, about his escape from Ford’s house and his new assignation with Mistress Ford. ( Act 4 ) Falstaff again visits Mistress Ford. Mistress Page arrives to warn that Ford is on his way home. The two women persuade Falstaff to disguise himself in women’s clothes so he can escape. As Falstaff leaves, Ford does not recognise him but beats him all the same.

Mistress Ford and Mistress Page tell their husbands about Falstaff’s letters and the tricks they have played on him. Together, they decide to teach the fat knight a lesson. Fenton plots to elope with Anne Page. ( Act 5 ) As commanded by the women, Falstaff arrives at night by Herne’s oak in Windsor Forest. He is wearing antlers on his head. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page join him, but they run away in pretended fright as Mistress Quickly arrives disguised as the Queen of the Fairies. Her troupe of fairies frighten Falstaff and pinch him soundly. During the commotion, Fenton steals away with Anne Page. Mistress Page and Mistress Ford and their husbands confront Falstaff and show him up as a coward and a fool. Fenton and Anne Page return to confess they are married. The assembled company return home to celebrate the events of the night. The Merry Wives of Windsor (TV Movie 1982) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.

Error The Merry Wives of Windsor ( 1982 ) 2h 50min When Sir John Falstaff decides that he wants to have a little fun he writes two letters to a pair of Window wives: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. When they put their heads together and ... See full summary » Director: David Hugh Jones (as David Jones) Writer: 2017 Golden Globe Nominees: In & Out of Character Get a closer look at this year's Golden Globe Award nominees in real life and in the roles that earned them fame. Don't miss our live coverage of the Golden Globes beginning at 5 p.m. PST on Jan. 8 in our Golden Globes section.

a list of 104 titles created 30 Jan 2013 a list of 997 titles created 23 Oct 2013 a list of 37 titles created 18 Nov 2014 a list of 2 titles created 23 Nov 2014 a list of 38 titles created 5 months ago Title: The Merry Wives of Windsor (TV Movie 1982) 7.1/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Imagining that Mistress Ford and Mistress Page have each fallen for him, the fat knight Sir John Falstaff decides to seduce them both, as much for their husbands' money as for their ... See full summary » Director: Christopher Luscombe A rich merchant, Antonio is depressed for no good reason, until his good friend Bassanio comes to tell him how he's in love with Portia. Portia's father has died and left a very strange ...

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See full summary » Director: Georg Wildhagen Edit Storyline When Sir John Falstaff decides that he wants to have a little fun he writes two letters to a pair of Window wives: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. When they put their heads together and compare missives, they plan a practical joke or two to teach the knight a lesson. But Mistress Ford's husband is a very jealous man and is pumping Falstaff for information of the affair. Meanwhile the Pages' daughter Anne is besieged by suitors. Written by Kathy Li 27 December 1982 (UK) See more » Also Known As: The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor See more » Company Credits Did You Know? Trivia Part of the long running BBC Television Shakespeare project which ran between 1978 and 1985. See more » Connections (Chicago, IL) – See all my reviews I usually love BBC productions, but this one is utterly misguided and makes one of Shakespeare's comedies seem a tedious bore. It's too bad.

A good cast of some of Britain's finest actors are driven into the ground by pedestrian direction, unatmospheric sets, and a general approach of reverence that is numbing to say the least. No one is having any fun! I gave in after the second act! Perhaps someday, an inventive director will give the play and story it's due! 2 of 17 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Merry Wives of Windsor: Entire Play Till candles and starlight and moonshine be out. During this song they pinch FALSTAFF. DOCTOR CAIUS comes one way, and steals away a boy in green; SLENDER another way, and takes off a boy in white; and FENTON comes and steals away ANN PAGE. A noise of hunting is heard within. All the Fairies run away. FALSTAFF pulls off his buck's head, and rises Enter PAGE, FORD, MISTRESS PAGE, and MISTRESS FORD The Merry Wives of Windsor - Act 3, Scene 3 The Merry Wives of Windsor Please see the bottom of this page for related resources. ACT III SCENE III A room in FORD'S house.

[Enter MISTRESS FORD and MISTRESS PAGE] MISTRESS FORD Quickly, quickly! is the buck-basket-- MISTRESS FORD I warrant. What, Robin, I say! [Enter Servants with a basket] MISTRESS PAGE Give your men the charge; we must be brief. MISTRESS FORD Marry, as I told you before, John and Robert, be ready here hard by in the brew-house: and when I suddenly call you, come forth, and without any pause or staggering take this basket on your shoulders: 10 that done, trudge with it in all haste, and carry it among the whitsters in Datchet-mead, and there empty it in the muddy ditch close by the Thames side. MISTRESS PAGE I ha' told them over and over; they lack no 15 direction. Be gone, and come when you are called. [Exeunt Servants] How now, my eyas-musket! what news with you? ROBIN My master, Sir John, is come in at your back-door, Mistress Ford, and requests your company. 20 You little Jack-a-Lent, have you been true to us?

ROBIN Ay, I'll be sworn. My master knows not of your being here and hath threatened to put me into everlasting liberty if I tell you of it; for he swears he'll turn me away. 25 Thou'rt a good boy: this secrecy of thine shall be a tailor to thee and shall make thee a new doublet and hose. I'll go hide me. MISTRESS FORD Do so. Go tell thy master I am alone. [Exit ROBIN] Mistress Page, remember you your cue. 30 I warrant thee; if I do not act it, hiss me. [Exit] Go to, then: we'll use this unwholesome humidity, this gross watery pumpion; we'll teach him to know turtles from jays. Mistress Ford, I cannot cog, I cannot prate, Mistress Ford. Now shall I sin in my wish: I would 40 thy husband were dead: I'll speak it before the best lord; I would make thee my lady. MISTRESS FORD I your lady, Sir John! alas, I should be a pitiful lady! FALSTAFF Let the court of France show me such another.

I see how thine eye would emulate the diamond: thou hast 45 the right arched beauty of the brow that becomes the ship-tire, the tire-valiant, or any tire of Venetian admittance. A plain kerchief, Sir John: my brows become nothing else; nor that well neither. 50 By the Lord, thou art a traitor to say so: thou wouldst make an absolute courtier; and the firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent motion to thy gait in a semi-circled farthingale. I see what thou wert, if Fortune thy foe were not, Nature 55 thy friend. Come, thou canst not hide it. MISTRESS FORD Believe me, there is no such thing in me. FALSTAFF What made me love thee? let that persuade thee there's something extraordinary in thee. Come, I cannot cog and say thou art this and that, like a 60 many of these lisping hawthorn-buds, that come like women in men's apparel, and smell like Bucklersbury in simple time; I cannot: but I love thee; none but thee; and thou deservest it.

MISTRESS FORD Do not betray me, sir. I fear you love Mistress Page. 65 Thou mightst as well say I love to walk by the Counter-gate, which is as hateful to me as the reek of a lime-kiln. Well, heaven knows how I love you; and you shall one day find it. Keep in that mind; I'll deserve it. MISTRESS FORD Nay, I must tell you, so you do; or else I could not be in that mind. [Within] Mistress Ford, Mistress Ford! here's Mistress Page at the door, sweating and blowing and 75 looking wildly, and would needs speak with you presently. FALSTAFF She shall not see me: I will ensconce me behind the arras. MISTRESS FORD Pray you, do so: she's a very tattling woman. [FALSTAFF hides himself] [Re-enter MISTRESS PAGE and ROBIN] What's the matter? how now! MISTRESS PAGE O Mistress Ford, what have you done? You're shamed, 80 you're overthrown, you're undone for ever! MISTRESS FORD What's the matter, good Mistress Page?

MISTRESS PAGE O well-a-day, Mistress Ford! having an honest man to your husband, to give him such cause of suspicion! MISTRESS FORD What cause of suspicion! Out pon you! how am I mistook in you! Why, alas, what's the matter? MISTRESS PAGE Your husband's coming hither, woman, with all the officers in Windsor, to search for a gentleman that 90 he says is here now in the house by your consent, to take an ill advantage of his assence: you are undone. MISTRESS FORD 'Tis not so, I hope. MISTRESS PAGE Pray heaven it be not so, that you have such a man here! but 'tis most certain your husband's coming, 95 with half Windsor at his heels, to search for such a one. I come before to tell you. If you know yourself clear, why, I am glad of it; but if you have a friend here convey, convey him out. Be not amazed; call all your senses to you; defend your 100 reputation, or bid farewell to your good life for ever. MISTRESS FORD What shall I do?

There is a gentleman my dear friend; and I fear not mine own shame so much as his peril: I had rather than a thousand pound he were out of the house. For shame! never stand 'you had rather' and 'you had rather:' your husband's here at hand, bethink you of some conveyance: in the house you cannot hide him. O, how have you deceived me! Look, here is a basket: if he be of any reasonable stature, he 110 may creep in here; and throw foul linen upon him, as if it were going to bucking: or--it is whiting-time --send him by your two men to Datchet-mead. MISTRESS FORD He's too big to go in there. What shall I do? FALSTAFF [Coming forward] Let me see't, let me see't, O, let 115 me see't! I'll in, I'll in. Follow your friend's counsel. I'll in. What, Sir John Falstaff! Are these your letters, knight? FALSTAFF I love thee. Help me away. Let me creep in here.

I'll never-- [Gets into the basket; they cover him with foul linen] MISTRESS PAGE Help to cover your master, boy. Call your men, Mistress Ford. You dissembling knight! MISTRESS FORD Nay, follow him, gentlemen; see the issue of his search. [Exeunt PAGE, DOCTOR CAIUS, and SIR HUGH EVANS] MISTRESS PAGE Is there not a double excellency in this? MISTRESS FORD I know not which pleases me better, that my husband is deceived, or Sir John. 150 What a taking was he in when your husband asked who was in the basket! I am half afraid he will have need of washing; so throwing him into the water will do him a benefit. MISTRESS PAGE Hang him, dishonest rascal! I would all of the same 155 strain were in the same distress. MISTRESS FORD I think my husband hath some special suspicion of Falstaff's being here; for I never saw him so gross in his jealousy till now.

MISTRESS PAGE I will lay a plot to try that; and we will yet have 160 more tricks with Falstaff: his dissolute disease will scarce obey this medicine. Shall we send that foolish carrion, Mistress Quickly, to him, and excuse his throwing into the water; and give him another hope, to betray him to 165 SparkNotes: The Merry Wives of Windsor: Analysis The Merry Wives of Windsor William Shakespeare Analysis, page 2 page 1 of 2 Shakespeare's most middle-class play, and one of his most farcical, The Merry Wives of Windsor was heartily admired by Friedrich Engels, co-author of the Communist Manifesto. Perhaps Engels enjoyed the way Shakespeare dramatized the formation of the middle class out of disparate social tensions. The play's farcical, comic intrigues create a jovial tone, which suspends hierarchies, reconciles upper- and lower-class characters, and draws them together into the burgeoning middle class. The main plot surrounds the playful but virtuous behavior of the title characters, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, who are married to two prosperous men of Windsor.

Their main point is that wives can be merry and faithful at the same time--that is, that they can lead boisterous, vivid lives without betraying their duties to their husbands--which Mr. Page understands but Mr. Ford doubts. The wives set out to dupe the sexually predatory Falstaff while curing Ford of his jealousy, bringing him to the same level of trust that Page feels. Meanwhile, the Pages' daughter, Anne Page, is married to Fenton, a man of higher birth but less money. This affirms romantic love as a kind of social assimilator, transcending class and enabling individuals to create new and inclusive social categories around their romantic relationships. Merry Wives has a contemporary middle-class tone, emphasizing provinciality and kind of robust common sense, that is unique to Shakespeare's plays. The social network of the community takes a negative view of anyone with origins outside Windsor. Slender's pretensions make him look like a fool; Justice Shallow, whose authority is based in the monarchy, ends up much the same. Sir Hugh Evans, the Welsh clergyman, derives his authority from outside (the church) and is heartily mocked for his foreign accent.

Caius, the French doctor, is similarly teased for his external roots and source of authority. The hostility of the locals to the aristocracy appears offstage in Page's rejection of Fenton's request for Anne's hand; Page suspects Fenton of having only financial desires for Anne, which is untrue. Yet the most marked resistance to the aristocracy lies in the repeated abuse of the impoverished knight, Falstaff. By the end, Falstaff has become a scapegoat for the whole town to mock because of financially-motivated attempts to seduce the Mistresses. Yet by the end, Fenton's successful marriage to Anne marks the reconciliation of the middle class and aristocracy. This play makes use of far more prose than any other Shakespeare play. As befits its middle-class tone, it reproduces many proverbs and cliches; Slender and Mistress Quickly particularly depend on cliche. Quickly also misunderstands and mishears words throughout the play, hearing sexual innuendo in Latin conjugations and declensions. Throwaway insults against foreigners show a kind of casual linguistic ethnocentrism, which reaches its heights in the ridicule of the fragmented English and unusual pronunciation of Evans and Caius.

The title of the play declares the primacy of the women's roles: the play is literally the story of the two merry wives. The conflicts in which Mistress Ford and Mistress Page are involved are, to an extent, related to gender--but what do they accomplish? Is their triumph over Falstaff's seduction attempts and Ford's jealousy a victory for them as women, or as members of the middle class, or both? Mistress Ford proves that Ford shouldn't be jealous, but in a certain way he was right to be--if he had arrived home at the right moment, he would have found Falstaff, and nothing would have convinced him that his wife was merely playing a trick. And while Mistress Page is blessed with an unjealous husband, she too has problems; she and her husband have each chosen a different man for their daughter to marry. While the play celebrates the Mistresses' autonomy (which is, in part, created by their husbands' wealth--social roles, gender roles, and economic hierarchy are very intermingled in the fabric of the comedy), the only woman who shows herself to be truly free is Anne, who manages to create a companionable marriage like that of her parents, but against their will.

1 The Merry Wives of Windsor (2011) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The Merry Wives of Windsor ( 2011 ) 2h 15min Imagining that Mistress Ford and Mistress Page have each fallen for him, the fat knight Sir John Falstaff decides to seduce them both, as much for their husbands' money as for their ... See full summary » Director: Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence.

a list of 19 titles created 21 Nov 2011 a list of 174 titles created 14 Nov 2012 a list of 58 titles created 29 Mar 2014 a list of 21 titles created 10 months ago a list of 40 titles created 7 months ago Title: The Merry Wives of Windsor (2011) 7.4/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Add Image Add an image Do you have any images for this title? Edit Storyline Imagining that Mistress Ford and Mistress Page have each fallen for him, the fat knight Sir John Falstaff decides to seduce them both, as much for their husbands' money as for their personal charms. Wise to the old rogue's tricks, the women turn the tables on him with a series of humiliating assignations and a very damp, extremely smelly laundry basket.

Written by Anonymous The Merry Wives of Windsor | Colorado Shakespeare Festival Colorado Shakespeare Festival The Merry Wives of Windsor By William Shakespeare June 27 to August 9 2014 Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre Mare Trevathan as Mistress Page, Michael Winters as Falstaff and Vanessa Morosco as Mistress Ford Mare Trevathan as Mistress Page, Michael Winters as Falstaff and Vanessa Morosco as Mistress Ford Why, then the world 's mine oyster. Directed by Seth Panitch Falstaff, one of Shakespeare’s most enduring comic characters, is at the heart of one of the Bard’s greatest laugh-out-loud farces. Pursuing the amorous attentions of two married English ladies, the pompous, rotund knight doesn’t let their mischievous pranking swerve him from his quest. Sure, he’s been punk’d, but isn’t it a sign of affection? This fresh new production will be set in a Catskills resort in the early 1960s. When Falstaff rolls up with his crew, it’ll be a hilarious mashup of Dirty Dancing and one of Shakespeare’s most popular comic plays. Season tickets and single tickets on sale now.

Date Opening Night: Saturday June 28 8:00 pm As good as it gets? "That which cannot be eschewed, must be embraced." —Ther Merry Wives of Windsor; Act V, Scene 5 "I would never want to belong to any club that would accept someone like me for a member." —Groucho Marx Although there is scant historical evidence that William Shakespeare and Groucho Marx ever met to compare notes on the human condition, one cannot help but see the similarities in their respective philosophies, and their propensity for wearing facial hair. Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor thrums with characters unprepared to accept the clubs to which they are destined. The central question of the play, then, is whether or not they are prepared to trade the seductive dreams of the unachievable for the richer, more real landscape of the already achieved. The Merry Wives of Windsor is actually three plays in one: a raucous Italian sex farce, a young-love-denied story, and a final festive masque, filled with contemporary references, fairies, and perhaps even more terrifying, child performers. The challenge for any modern production is finding the unity between these stories.

For Shakespeare, that fascia was at the middle-class world of Windsor as he lovingly remembered it—a world very close to the Stratford of his youth, filled with characters that both he and his audience would know intimately. It has been our task to seek a framework that our audience can relate to, a world that, for us, glimmers with a similarly nostalgic sheen in our collective rearview mirrors. And so, we begin our play in 1962, at the Mount Windsor Hotel and Resort in the Catskill Mountains. We begin with the aging comedian “Sir” John Falstaff, the Crusading Knight of the Round Waistband, who arrives fresh from his banishment, not from the court of Henry V, but from the ”court” of the national comedy circuit. We begin with the “Merry Wives” themselves, who appear to us anything but merry—both hesitating at their life’s crossroads. We begin with the soulful music of 1962, the shrinking bikinis, the towering hairstyles, and, of course, the dancing, both “dirty” and otherwise.

Most importantly, we begin with the long-cherished dreams of this functionally dysfunctional family—dreams deferred long enough that each character has come to the crisis that always strikes the mediocre and the merely content: “Is this as good as it gets?” It is impossible not to admire John Falstaff as he thrusts himself “once more unto the breach” of the fortress of that question for one last shot at romantic immortality. Falstaff is, in many ways, our crusading knight, valiantly fighting our battle to somehow bridge the chasm between the abject terror of that question, and the serenity derived from answering it, finally, in the affirmative. Or, to paraphrase Groucho Marx, “What cannot be eschewed, must be embraced…” —Seth Panitch, director Setting: 1962, Mount Windsor Hotel, Catskills Mountain Resort Sir John Falstaff arrives at Windsor, hoping to improve his fortunes by seducing married women, thereby gaining access to their husbands’ funds. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page compare his identical love letters and plot revenge. Meanwhile, three rivals compete to marry the lovely (and wealthy) Anne Page.

Falstaff brags about his impending conquest of Mistress Ford to his new friend Brook (a jealous Ford in disguise). Later, Mistress Ford has Falstaff carried out in a basket of dirty laundry and dumped in a muddy ditch when her husband arrives unexpectedly. Anne’s suitor Fenton laments that despite their love, her father will never approve of their marriage. Meanwhile, Mistress Quickly delivers a new invitation from Mistress Ford to Falstaff, which he accepts despite having been tossed in the river the last time. Again he boasts to Brook/Ford about his narrow escape and new opportunity, and again Ford arrives home unexpectedly, determined to expose his wife’s adultery. When he fails to find Falstaff in the laundry—Falstaff having escaped disguised as an old fat woman—the wives reveal their prank to their husbands. Ford, ashamed of his jealous behavior, vows to never mistrust his wife again. The four plot a final trick to play on Falstaff. Falstaff meets Mistress Page and Mistress Ford at night, but they are interrupted by townspeople disguised as witches and fairies, who converge on a terrified Falstaff. The hoax is revealed, and Falstaff expresses remorse at his bad behavior and is forgiven.

Page announces that Slender has eloped with Anne, but is contradicted by Mistress Page, who instructed Anne to marry Doctor Caius instead. Both grooms return empty-handed, and Anne soon arrives with her new husband Fenton, having thwarted both her parents. Page relents now that the deed is done and accepts Fenton into the family. —Heidi Schmidt, dramaturg The Merry Middle Class of Windsor The Merry Wives of Windsor has long been considered an anomaly in Shakespeare’s writing. It contains a higher percentage of prose than any other Shakespeare play and is his only comedy set in England. It has been praised as a farce, dismissed as a farce, identified with Roman or Greek New Comedy, labeled a comedy of forgiveness, a citizen comedy, an English comedy, and a middle-class comedy. The term middle class is perhaps misapplied—it didn’t exist in Shakespeare’s lifetime—but the characters in Merry Wives are distinctly of middle rank, or the middle orders. Windsor is populated by masters and mistresses, not lords and ladies. The only character claiming high birth is Fenton, and he is suspected of being a gold-digger and reprobate by Anne’s father.

Scholars have suggested that Windsor in the play is a close relative of Stratford, Shakespeare’s hometown, and that Merry Wives calls on his own life experience more than any other play he wrote. This may well be true. He was the son of a glove maker whose first successes were as an actor, then as a poet, and eventually as a shareholder in one of the major theater companies of his day. Shakespeare was a business owner as much as he was an artist. Like Page in Merry Wives, he had wealth but no discernable rank or title, though he did purchase a family coat of arms; the crest featured a falcon, an image Shakespeare had used elsewhere as a symbol for ambition. Despite his financial success, Shakespeare’s middle rank remained firmly underneath the upper classes in the social order and power structure of his day. This was not the case in the United States in the early 1960s, where the middle class dominated the electorate and enjoyed a long run of postwar prosperity.

Median income rose 50 percent during the 1950s, more people were graduating both high school and college, and the growth of suburbs brought homeownership within reach to an ever-growing segment of the population, who could now afford a sensible car, televisions, and the occasional family vacation (to places like the Catskills). This widespread prosperity did not last. Today, pundits worry about endangered middle class. Sprawling homes, luxury cars, big screen televisions, and family vacations are purchased with substantial household debt, resulting in the appearance of an upper class lifestyle without the increased wages that 1962 seemed to promise. For most Americans in the middle, our aspirations have exceeded our means. —Heidi Schmidt, dramaturg LibriVox Librivox Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain Menu William SHAKESPEARE (1564 - 1616) The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life.

(Summary by Wikipedia) Cast: The Merry Wives of Windsor - Act 4, Scene 4 The Merry Wives of Windsor Please see the bottom of this page for related resources. ACT IV SCENE IV A room in FORD'S house. [ Enter PAGE, FORD, MISTRESS PAGE, MISTRESS FORD, and SIR HUGH EVANS ] SIR HUGH EVANS 'Tis one of the best discretions of a 'oman as ever I did look upon. And did he send you both these letters at an instant? MISTRESS PAGE Within a quarter of an hour. FORD Pardon me, wife. Henceforth do what thou wilt; 5 I rather will suspect the sun with cold Than thee with wantonness: now doth thy honour stand In him that was of late an heretic, As firm as faith. 'Tis well, 'tis well; no more: 10 Be not as extreme in submission As in offence. But let our plot go forward: let our wives Yet once again, to make us public sport, Appoint a meeting with this old fat fellow, 15 Where we may take him and disgrace him for it.

FORD There is no better way than that they spoke of. PAGE How? to send him word they'll meet him in the park at midnight? Fie, fie! he'll never come. SIR HUGH EVANS You say he has been thrown in the rivers and has 20 been grievously peaten as an old 'oman: methinks there should be terrors in him that he should not come; methinks his flesh is punished, he shall have no desires. Devise but how you'll use him when he comes, And let us two devise to bring him thither. MISTRESS PAGE There is an old tale goes that Herne the hunter, Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest, Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight, 30 Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns; And there he blasts the tree and takes the cattle And makes milch-kine yield blood and shakes a chain In a most hideous and dreadful manner: You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know 35 Received and did deliver to our age This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth.

PAGE Why, yet there want not many that do fear In deep of night to walk by this Herne's oak: 40 Marry, this is our device; That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us. PAGE Well, let it not be doubted but he'll come: And in this shape when you have brought him thither, 45 What shall be done with him? what is your plot?

MISTRESS PAGE That likewise have we thought upon, and thus: Nan Page my daughter and my little son And three or four more of their growth we'll dress Like urchins, ouphes and fairies, green and white, 50 With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads, And rattles in their hands: upon a sudden, As Falstaff, she and I, are newly met, Let them from forth a sawpit rush at once With some diffused song: upon their sight, 55 We two in great amazedness will fly: Then let them all encircle him about And, fairy-like, to-pinch the unclean knight, And ask him why, that hour of fairy revel, In their so sacred paths he dares to tread 60 We'll all present ourselves, dis-horn the spirit, And mock him home to Windsor. FORD Be practised well to this, or they'll ne'er do't. SIR HUGH EVANS I will teach the children their behaviors; and I 70 will be like a jack-an-apes also, to burn the knight with my taber. That will be excellent. I'll go and buy them vizards.

MISTRESS PAGE My Nan shall be the queen of all the fairies, Finely attired in a robe of white. 75 That silk will I go buy. [Aside] Shall Master Slender steal my Nan away And marry her at Eton. Go send to Falstaff straight. FORD Nay I'll to him again in name of Brook 80 He'll tell me all his purpose: sure, he'll come. MISTRESS PAGE Fear not you that. Go get us properties And tricking for our fairies. SIR HUGH EVANS Let us about it: it is admirable pleasures and fery honest knaveries. [Exeunt PAGE, FORD, and SIR HUGH EVANS] MISTRESS PAGE Send quickly to Sir John, to know his mind. [Exit MISTRESS FORD] I'll to the doctor: he hath my good will, And none but he, to marry with Nan Page. That Slender, though well landed, is an idiot; 90 And he my husband best of all affects. The doctor is well money'd, and his friends Potent at court: he, none but he, shall have her, Though twenty thousand worthier come to crave her.

[Exit]

Question: How are `Mistress Ford' and `Mistress Page' known in the title of a Shakespeare play?
Answer: The Merry Wives of Windsor